Currently, the standard way that users interact with computers is through Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs). GUIs are usually associated with moveable windows, elements or pods, and a mouse (or other pointing device) and offer users a more intuitive interaction with computers than character-based interface alternatives. An example of a GUI is the popular WINDOWS® operating system, available from Microsoft Corporation. Applications that use GUIs are numerous, and include word processing applications, spreadsheets, databases, and the like.
One specific example of a type of application that takes advantage of GUIs are meeting space applications. Several web-based or Internet-based meeting services are available on the market currently, such as WEBEX™, available from WebEx Communications, Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., and MICROSOFT® Live Meeting. These electronic meeting spaces offer a variety of features, but basically provide a network-based meeting space for users through interactive audio and video presentations.
In any one screen layout presented to a user in a meeting space (or other GUI-based application), there are usually one or more pods, elements, or presentation objects, that may display, for example, a document or a video image. Some meeting spaces allow a host to rearrange the screen layout, by adding, removing, and deleting pods, as the meeting is occurring.
Currently, such products use abrupt, near instantaneous screen changes, wherein the screen flickers and a second screen layout is immediately presented to the users. For a host, such screen changes may not be distracting, but to an audience of meeting participants or users, the lack of context to the change may leave them wondering about whether the screen change was purposeful or was a network glitch, or maybe even wondering what the nature of the change was, such as exactly which pods or elements were just removed or added. Further, such abrupt changes may be jarring, especially to passive audience members who may be focusing on the screen. Any kind of interruption to the host presenter's message may also cause bored audience members to drift away instead of paying attention to the meeting. Also, a user who is paying attention may be distracted from the meeting by an abrupt change. In the past, some hosts have adapted by announcing screen changes, such as by saying, “and now I am changing the screen.” However, such announcements may cause a host to pause and lose his, or the audience's, attention. Moreover, the presenter may forget to warn the participants of the impending change.